Starlink, OneWeb, and Amazon Kuiper are all racing to deliver satellite internet, but they've made fundamentally different architectural choices about altitude, terminal design, target market, and business model. Understanding these tradeoffs reveals what each does best — and worst.
Starlink, OneWeb, and Amazon Kuiper are all racing to deliver satellite internet, but they've made fundamentally different architectural choices about altitude, terminal design, target market, and business model. Understanding these tradeoffs reveals what each does best — and worst.
OneWeb chose 1,200 km while Starlink and Kuiper chose ~550–630 km. This single decision cascades through every aspect of the system.
The three constellations target different markets — and this shapes everything from terminal design to pricing.
The competitive landscape is evolving rapidly — here's the current state.
Next: the physics that constraints them all — latency, bandwidth, and the altitude tradeoff.